Weft-replenishing mechanism for adjacent looms



June 17, 1969 EIZABURO NEGISHI WEFTREPLENISHING MECHANISM FOR ADJACENT LOOMS Filed sept. 2o. 1967 l of5 Sheet Evmmmgig@ mm QQQLBBS June 17,l 1969 ElzABuRo NEGlsHl 3,450,166

WEFT-REPLENISHING MECHANISM FOR ADJACENT LOOMS Filed sept. 2o, 19s? sheet ,2- Qf 5 `N Ngrm N cv -J no 5.9. i Ll.

June 17, 1969 ElzABuRo NEGlsHl 3,450,166

WEFT-REPLENISHING MECHANISM FOR ADJACENT LOOMS Filed sept. 2o, 1967 sheet a Iof 5 3,450,166 WEFT-REPLENISHING MECHANISM FOR ADJACEN'C LOOMS Filed Sept. 20. 1967 June 17 1959 EIZABURO NiacslsHl` Sheet ElzABURo NEGlsl-u 3,450,166

June 17, 1969 WEFT-REPLENI-SHING MECHANISM FOR ADJACENT LOOMS Filed sept. 2o, 1967 sheety ,5 ors FIG. 7

United States Patent O U.S. Cl. 139-1 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A single pirn Winder is provided common to adjacent looms and is controlled according to the number of pirns in the respective magazines of the looms. A pirn transfer device rotatable approximately y1l80 is provided to receive pirns from the pirn Winder to alternately supply them to respective magazines of the looms.

This invention relates to a Weft-replenishing mechanism for adjacent looms wherein pirns Wound by a single automatic pirn Winder (hereinafter referred to as a pirn Winder) are alternately supplied to a pair of adjacent looms thus enabling these looms to operate automatically over a long period.

In a Well known conventional loom including a pirn Winder (U.S. Patent No. 2,638,936), a single pirn Winder is mounted on a single loom to automatically supply pirns to the magazine of the loom according to their order of Winding. Such a loom is characterized in that, since Wound pirns are automatically supplied in succession to the loom according to the order of winding, the interval between the time at which the yarn is formed into a pirn on the bobbin and the time at Which the pirn is supplied into the shuttle of the loom is nearly constant, so that when weaving is carried out by using yarns that are sensitive to temperature, humidity, tension or other conditions relatively satisfactory Woven fabrics can be produced. Further, labor for conveying pirns from an ordinary pirn Winding machine to the respective looms can be minimized. On the other hand, as a relatively expensive modern pirn Winder having a capacity suflcient to supply pirns to approximately two looms is associated with only one loom, the cost of installation becomes extremely high. For this reason, and in view of the cost of labor, adoption of such looms is not always economical except in the case wherein it is required to supply pirns to the looms according to the order of winding.

One object of this invention is to provide novel paired looms free from the defects mentioned above. A more specific object of this invention is to provide improved weft-replenishing mechanism for adjacent looms capable of alternately supplying to magazine of adjacent paired looms pirns Wound by a single pirn Winder thereby to greatly decrease the required cost of installation of the pirn Winder per one loom.

A further object of this invention is provide a novel mechanism for a pirn Winder common to the looms which can supply pirns wound thereby to respective magazines of said looms and, in addition, change the direction of pirns by approximately 180 while the pirns are transferred to a magazine on one of the looms.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a novel automatic control device -for a single pirn Winder common to adjacent looms which can automatically control the operation of the pirn Winder according to the operation of respective looms or the number of pirns in the magazine of each loom.

3,450,166 Patented June 17, 1969 According to the invention, a weft-replenshing mechanism for adjacent looms comprises in combination, at least a pair of looms, a single pirn Winder provided on one of the looms, an automatic electrical control means for regulating the operation of the pirn Winder in accordance with change in the number of pirns in the magazines of the looms, and a pirn transfer device interrelated With said pirn Winder and being rotatable over approximately for receiving pirns wound by the pirn Winder and to supply them alternately to the magazines of the adjacent looms.

The automatic electrical control means comprises an electric current source, an electric motor for driving the pirn Winder, a pair of electric circuits for energizing the electric motor from the current source, and feeling devices provided in each of said pair of circuits for detecting change in the number of pirns in the magazines of the looms and for controlling the electric circuits in accordance with the change.

The pirn transfer device includes a reversible electric motor, a reversible Worm driven by the motor, a reversible drive Wheel meshing with the worm and having an arcuate groove therein, a stopper cooperating with the groove of the drive Wheel for arresting the rotation thereof when the stopper comes to engage one end of the groove, a turntable coaxially mounted on a main shaft With the drive wheel, a post supported on the turntable, a rotatable arm provided with a pirn receiver held by the post and rotatable over a range of approximately 180 by being pulled by the Worm moving along the periphery of the drive Wheel when the rotation thereof is arrested, a drive wheel coaxially xed to and rotating with the drive Wheel, a sprocket wheel for operating the pirn receiver and transmission means for driving the turntable and sprocket wheel in accordance with operating conditions of the drive Wheel. The novel features which characterise this invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its organization and method of operation together with lfurther objects and advantages thereof may best be understood by reference to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in Which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of weft-replenishing mechanism for adjacent looms constructed in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic view of an automatic control device for controlling the operation of a pirn Winder in accordance with the requirements of two adjacent looms;

FIGS. 3 and 4 respectively are plan views of a pirn transfer device in a position to supply a pirn to the magazine of one of the looms and in a position which is displaced from said first position rotating by approximately 180 to supply a pirn to the magazine of the adjacent loom;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged front View of one end of a rotatable arm and a pim receiver;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the rotatable arm taken along the line Vil- VI in FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is the same sectional view as that shown in FIG. 6 but illustrating a pirn receiver in 4a dilerent position.

In the following description of a preferred embodiment of this invention, as the paired looms, the pirn Winder and the feeling devices may each be any one of Well known types, the description thereof is limited only to the extent necessary lfor an understanding of the principle of this invention.

Automatic control devices 0f the pim winder Magazines B1 and B2 of a pair of looms A1 and A2 are respectively equipped with suitable monitoring or feeling devices F1 and F2. The feeling device F1 controls one electric circuit L1 to a driving motor M of a pirn Winder C, while the other feeling device F2 controls another circuit L1. These electric circuit L1 and |L2 carry electric current from the same source of current G and are so arranged that when the number of pirns contained in one magazine B1 is increased to a lpredeterrned number, the feeling device F1 feels this number to interrupt the electric circuit L1, while, when the number of pirns in the other magazine B2 is increased to a predetermined number the feeling device F2 interrupts the circuit L2. Thus, the motor M is stopped when both circuits L1 and L1 are interrupted to stop the operation of the pirn Winder C.

When the number of pirns contained in one magazine (for example B1) decreases below a predetermined number during operation of loom A1, feeling device F1 associated with said magazine isrestored to the original state, thus closing one circuit L1, whereby motor M is again started to operate the pirn Winder C irrespective of the fact that the other circuit is still being interrupted.

Pz'rn transfer device A pim transfer device X includes a rotatable arm 14 disposed between the common pim Winder C and two adjacent looms A1 and A11 respectively provided with magazines B1 and B2 and adapted to reciprocate or rotate automatically over a range of approximately 180, as shown in FIGS. 1, 3 and 4. The pirns P wound by a single pirn Winder are received by a pim receiver 43 provided on one portion of the rotatable arm 14 to be alternately supplied to magazines B1 and B2 of two adjacent looms. The novel pirn transfer device is characterized in that during transfer of the pirn to one of the magazines, say magazine B2, the pirn is rotated by approximately 180 by the rotary movement of the arm 14. More particularly, each time a pirn P (as shown in FIG. l) is wound by the pim Winder C to the desired configuration and discharged downwardly, the rotatable arm 14 is brought into the discharge passage of the pirn P immediately above the magazine B1 of one of the looms to prepare for receiving the discharged pirn in the pim receiver 43 (see FIG. 3). Concurrently therewith, or shortly before or after the pirn is received, an electric motor 5 for driving the rotatable arm 14 is started in the forward direction to drive a driving Wheel or a worm Wheel 8 in the forward direction shown by arrow 19 in lFIG. 3 through a worm 7.

As the driving wheel 8 is rotated in this manner, one end 10 of a groove 9 thereof gradually approaches a stop member 11 until it finally engages therewith to stop the rotation of the driving wheel 8 as shown in PIG. 4.

However, as the worm 7 is continuously driven, after drive wheel 8 has stopped, the worrn revolves along the periphery of the drive wheel in the direction shown by arrow in FIG. 3. As a result, a turntable 12 shown in FIG. 1 is rotated together with the worm to revolve a post 13 supported on the turntable and the rotatable arm 14 supported by the post by about 180 in the forward direction shown by arrow 20 from the position sholwn in FIG. 3 to that shown in FIG. 4. (In l-TIG. 1, the latter position is shown by chain lines 13 and 14,1.

As shown in FIG. 1, at the same time when drive Wheel 8 begins to rotate, a drive gear 31 (shown as a bevel wheel in the illustrated example) coaxially fixed to and rotating with the drive wheel 8 drives a sprocket Wheel 35 in the arrow direction through a transmission means including gears 32, 33 and 34. Sprocket wheel 35 drives a chain 39 passing around guide rolls 36, 37 and 38 contained in rotatable arm 14, in the direction of arrows. Thereafter, the rotation of drive wheel 8 is arrested as above described, which in turn causes drive gear 31 to stop. Simultaneously, with the stopping of drive wheel 8, the turntable 12 is rotated by the action of worm 7 as described above, thus bodily rotating about the post 13 and rotatable arm 14 mounted thereon about a main shaft 1. As the turntable 12 rotates about the main shaft 1, the axis of the gear 32 is shifted so that the gear 32 further continues its rotation while engaging the drive gear 31, which is now maintained stationary to further drive in the forward direction the chain 39 passing around the sprocket wheel 35 through gears 33 and 34.

Thus, when turntable 12 of the pim transfer device has rotated about 180, the rotation of the motor 5 is reversed by any suitable means to drive the drive wheel 8 in the opposite direction until opposite end 18 of the groove 9 comes to engage the stop member 11, at which time drive wheel 8 is restored to the original position and stops thereat. At the same time, the turntable 12 of the pim transfer device starts to rotate in the opposite direction to restore the gear 32, chain 39 et cetra associated therewith to their original position, thus stopping the motor 5.

A pusher member 41, shown in FIGS. 5 through 7, secured to the chain 39 driven by a drive gear 31 mounted coaxially with the rotary drive wheel 8 and by a transmission mechanism (for example, gears 32, 33, 34 and 35) associated lwith the drive gear 31. A pirn receiver 43 is pivotally mounted on the left hand side olf the rotatable arm 14 as at 42, as shown in 1FIGS. 6 and 7. Further, a hook 45 is provided to engage a right hand arm 44 of the pirn receiver to normally hold it in the position shown in FIG. 6. Thus, the pirn receiver 43 functions to receive a pirn P and to supply it to either one of the magazines of the adjacent looms after a predetermined interval of time.

More particularly, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the hook 45 is pivoted at 46 and normally hangs downwardly to hold the pirn receiver 43 -against being rotated about the pivot 42 by the weight `of the pirn P received thereon until a predetermine-d time (i.e., until rotatable arm 14 is rotated about 180). When the rotatable arm 14 is rotated about 180 together with the pirn P to a position above the magazine B2 of the other loom A2, the pusher member 41 secured to a position of the running chain 39 comes to engage the hook 45 to move it to a position shown by dot-and-dash lines in FIG. 5, thus disengaging hook 45 from arm 44 of the pirn receiver. As a result, the pim receiver is rotated in the counterclockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 6, by the weight of the pirn P to supply it into the magazine B2.

After supplying the pirn to magazine B2, the electric motor 5 is reversed to bring various parts to their original positions, and then the motor 5 is stopped.

The supply of the pirn P to the magazine B1 is effected by merely disengaging stop member I11 from the groove 9 by any suitable means. In this case, as the drive wheel 8 is not arrested by the stop member 11, it makes nearly one complete revolution in the forward direction and then reverses its direction of rotation to return to the original position. During this period, the turntable 12 and rotatable arm 14 do not rotate but remain in the original position. Accordingly, the pusher member 41 on chain 39 driven by the for-ward and reverse rotations of the drive wheel can supply the pirn to the magazine B1 immediately beneath it in the same manner as in the case of supplying the pirn to the magazine B2 of the other loom.

As can be noted from the foregoing description, the novel mechanism of this invention comprise `a pair 0f adjacent looms, a single pirn Winder common to these looms, an automatic control device to control the operation of the pirn Winder and a pirn transfer device to alternately supply pirns to the respective magazines of said looms. Pirns supplied to the respective magazines are successively knocked int-o shuttles (not shown) in -a well known manner. For this reason, the time interval be tween an instant at which the individual pirn is wound and an instant at Which the pirn iskuocked into the shuttle for Weaving is nearly constant, thus establishing the most desirable condition for Weaving. In addition, the cost of installation lof a mechanism `for automatically supplying pirns to looms can be greatly reduced.

While in the above described embodiment of the invention, a standard single pirn Winder including one spindle has been illustrated, it may be provided two spindles, if desired.

What is claimed is:

1. A Weft-replenishing mechanism for adjacent looms comprising in combination: at least a pair of looms, a magazine for each loom, a single pirn Winder provided on one orf said looms, an automatic electrical control means to regulate the operation of said pirn Winder in accordance With change in the number of pirns in the magazines of said looms, and a pirn transfer device rotatable over 180 to receive pirns Wound by said pirn Winder and to supply them alternately to the magazines of said adjacent looms.

2. The Weft-replenishing mechanism for adjacent looms according to claim 1, Wherein said automatic electrical control means comprises an electric current source, an electric motor for driving said pirn Winder, a pair of electric circuits for energizing said electric motor from electric current source, and feeling devices provided in each of said pair 1of circuits to detect change in the number of pirns in the magazines of said looms and to control said electric circuits in accordance With the change.

3. The Weft-replenishing mechanism for adjacent looms according to claim 1, wherein said pirn transfer device comprises a reversible electric motor, a reversible Worm driven by said motor, a main shaft, a reversible drive Wheel on said main shaft meshing With said Worm and having an arcuate groove therein, stop means cooperating With said groove of said drive Wheel to arrest the rotation thereof when said stop means comes to engage one end of said groove, a turntable coaxially mounted on said main shaft With said drive Wheel, a post supported on said turntable, a rotatable arm provided With a pirn receiver held by said post and rotatable over a range of approximately 180 by being pulled by said Worm moving along the periphery of said drive Wheel 'when the rotation thereof is arrested, ya drive gear coaxally xed to and rotating With said drive Wheel, a sprocket Wheel to operate said pirn receiver, and transmission means to drive said turntable and sprocket Wheel in accordance with operating conditions of said drive Wheel.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 143,696 11/1959 Russia.

JAMES KEECHI, Primary Examiner.

Us. c1. X.R. 139-224; 242-27, 35.5 

